Ever since we bought our house I've had this problem with our dining room. I just couldn't seem to get a good feeling about it. It was too small to add any furniture other than the table and chairs so I really struggled to make it cozy and inviting. Actually it was too small for the table really, any time we had company over and used the room it felt like we were all just crammed in there. And despite my efforts to add art and lighting to the walls, and even wainscoting, it just never clicked. Needless to say we didn't use the room much.

Meanwhile, right next to the dining room was the living room. The biggest room in the house and probably the least used of them all. It has a great big bay window that let's in tons of light. There was the couch and some chairs and a table for coffee..but I never once felt like I could go in there and just relax with a book or a cup of coffee. And I don't think our guests ever sat down there either. It always felt a bit exposed and disconnected from the rest of the house so it never had the intimate and warm gravitas.

I bet by now you know where I'm going with this. I don't know why it took me so long to figure out that I should switch the two rooms. And it probably took me about 3o minutes to move all the furniture. Well..not including the time it took to convince my husband it was worth a try and to come help me lift the table and the couch :-)

As always when you move things around it takes a bit of work to get the final details just right, but I'm already so much more happy with both of these rooms and we have probably used both of them more in the past 2 weeks than we had in all the years before. I'll share some pictures with you when I have gotten it all ready.

Anyway..now you know the backstory to my post. That dining room now has a lot more potential and I am dying to do something with it! I don't know exactly what to do though..paint the table? New chairs? Paint the chairs and buy a new table? Just get all new stuff? Paint the walls? What about ceiling lights? Ahh..you know the feeling! Frustration mixed with energy mixed with momentum..it's an itch and you have to fix it! So I started browsing my favorite interior decorating magazine's online gallery for inspiration. Take a look below at the ones I'm contemplating or browse it all on Skona Hem.

Elegance

This is just beautiful. The antique and traditional glow of the furniture is offset by a few more modern accents. Despite the age and dark color, the furniture has a lightness and elegance to it and seems to have an ability to make you relax.

Classics

Much more modern feel, but still not too bright and flashy. This would probably work really well in my house but I'm worried it might work a little too well and lack interest considering the architecture of my house.

Today

Bright, expressive, sleek and pretty attainable as all of these pieces are carried by stores today. The contemporary looks tend to lay the foundation for a cold and flat atmosphere to me but there are ways to blend in more personality with older pieces like in the one to the right below. A dining room is a place for the essence of life and I want it to help us relax and enjoy the moments we spend together.

Intimacy

These homes all carry that presence of the person living there. They seem to be put together over many years and are impossible to replicate. I strive to accomplish this quality in all my interiors and it's by far the most difficult thing to achieve. The pieces themselves may not seem to match but are glued together by the personalities of the people bringing them there.

As you can see my direction is still pointing all over the place. The good news is there are many ways to end up in a good place!